Misstress of Moonlight
by Silver Sailor Ganymede
Summary: AU. Misstress NineMinako. Minako is a young girl living in a village that has long been haunted by a demon, but what happens when the demon's next victim is her?


Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon.

Misstress of Moonlight  
By Silver Sailor Ganymede

The castle teetred upon the edge of the cliff, its once grand form already beginning to fall to ruin: it was bathed in the argentine light of the Moon, and stared down at the village below it with a piercing gaze. The stone of the castle was cold, and made colder still by the chill winds that swiftly made their way through the forest and the village up to where the castle stood.

One would have expected the night to be empty but for the savage animals that had long ago adapted themselves to such climes, but the night was not empty of human life, not quite: that is, of course, if the one in question was still able to be classified as being human. Atop one of the many towers of the castle, a woman stood, her body wrapped over and over again in furs. Her hair, black as pitch, flew around her like Medusa's snakes must once have done, and her violet eyes surveyed the sleeping town below her.

This woman's name was Ottativa Tomoe, though she was generally known simply as 'The Misstress', for she was the ninth of her line to have borne that name. It had been a tradition in her family for centuries that Ottavia was the name of the eldest daughter, and it was not until her own daughter had been born that that tradition had finally ended. Hotaru was her daughter's name; it had only seemed fitting to give a name shrouded in mystery to a child whose birth was a mysetery in itself.

At that moment The Misstress stood alone and bathed in the icy light of the Moon, letting the cold seep into her skin and chill the blood in her veins. The blood, that acursed blood… the blood she now craved, and had craved ever since just after Hotaru's birth. She had borne it for years without them realising, and yet she could not shake away this feeling of dread that had come to her of late. Something was going to happen and demon or no, she knew that whatever it was, she was going to deeply regret it.

She fell to the stone floor in a swoon as the craving took a steady hold on her. This need for blood, this taking of human life, it had threatened to drive her to insanity ever since it had come, but never had it been this strong, this overpowering. She closed her eyes and tried to stop herself from shuddering as it became stronger than ever, but alas this had no effect, not this time.

"Mama?" a quiet voice asked. A young girl, no more than five years of age, had wandered out onto the tower: she was Hotaru, The Misstress' young daughter. "Mama?"

The Misstress looked up, but not because she could hear the girl's questioning: no, she could smell the blood; she needed the blood, needed it as much as a mortal needs air to breathe. She had the girl in her grasp and did not even realise that this was her own daughter she held.

"Mama?" Hotaru's voice was shaking as violently as her small form as the woman-turned-demon held her fast. "What are you doing? Mama? _Mama!_"

I suppose it is needless to say that she could not hear her; only the animal was left within her at that moment; a vampire lured by blood behaves in much the same way as would a turned werewolf: they are not human at all at the moment when the kill is near, nor do they have any knowledge of whom that kill might be. It was thus that The Misstress sunk her fangs into the child's neck and lapped at her blood like a cat might do at milk.

She broke away as the trance faded: then saw the girl's prone form lying on the floor, staring up at her with lifeless amethyst orbs for eyes. It was only when she tasted the blood in her mouth and saw the sanguine stains on the girl's dress that she realised what she had done.

* * *

The taking of innocent life is a crime that can hardly be borne by any that was once human: the taking of an innocent loved one is something not even a demon could bear. I suppose it was because of this that she began to act the way she did: she would take only the lives of young children, girls for the most part, so that her daughter, whom she had so wrongfully slain, would have playmates in Heaven. The innocent would not be headed for Hell, would they? No matter of the ancestors, the innocent would not be punished as criminals, not for misdeeds that were not there to have perpetrated.

Many decades had passed since the night of that misguided murder, and The Misstress herself had become nothing more than a figure of folklore, no matter that she still lived. Still she took the lives of children and of babes, though not in such a way as they would suspect that she, the demon that killed her own daughter in her bloodlust, was still alive.

* * *

It was almost to the day of Hotaru's death that The Misstress had, in guise, ventured down into the village itself for the first time in decades, perhaps longer. She was surprised somewhat by that fact that the town had hardly changed since when she was a child. She walked among the peasents of the town and down the winding mud-tracks they claimed were roads: the October rains were falling and making the stench of the town grow even fouler than they would usually have been at that time of year.

She drew her cloak closer around her and held up a bag of herbs so as to lesson somewhat the stench of the village. She noticed some peasents in a group talking and stopped in the shadows to listen.

"… yes, a daughter, that's right," one nodded.

"Stillborn?"

"No, this one lives, though it has only been a few weeks since her birth. She may not survive the coming months; the ones before her didn't," another replied.

"Apparently the babe is healthy."

"Have they named her yet?"

"Apparently so; they have called her Minako."

"Aino Minako," another repeated the name. "I have a feeling this one will survive, so long as The Snatcher does not get her."

At that a sneer appeared on The Misstress' face; so that was what they called her now, was it? But she could not be bothered with the Aino's, not when she had already killed their first three children, the fourth and fifth having died of natural causes. Perhaps this sixth, this daughter, would be lucky. The rain's started to fall even more heavily then, and with that The Misstress left the village: she would let that one live, for now at least.

* * *

Aino Minako, unlike many of her time, had a peaceful, relatively comfertable childhood. She lived with her parents in the grandest house in their village, which was run by servants so that she never in her life had to dirty her hands: for that would in itself have been a crime. She was widely regarded as the most beautiful girl for many miles around, and she had already, at the age of just fourteen, had more suitors than most could ever have dreamed of. The strange thing was that she refused each and every one of them, claiming when asked that she found beauty in other things than men, like nature, for instance. No matter how much her father begged her to marry, she refused, and in the end this refusal would become her downfall.

* * *

As time passed, The Misstress found that her craving for blood lessened somewhat, thus her hunts became less and less frequent. She had already killed a young girl that night, a child of a peasent family in a nearby village, one that would not be missed except by her own family. She felt no need for more blood and yet she found herself still wandering aimlessly into the forset that bordered her village – for she still saw it to be her village even after all her time as a bloodsucker, a demon, a vampire.

After a time she found herself in a clearing near what she presumed was the center of the forest. There was a lake in the clearing, one that she knew well: it was usually deserted in the hours of night, but not that night, for at that time there was another in the clearing, a young girl with hair of spun gold and eyes of cerulean. Her dress was simple yet at the same time fine, indicating that she came from a wealthy family, though not so much as for her to be crowned in gold and pearls: not that a beauty as she was had any need of such things.

At any other time, The Misstress would have remained hidden in the shadows, yet there was something about the girl in question that made hiding impossible for her. She took another quick glance at her and made up her mind; she would seduce this girl before killing her finally, it would be almost fun for her to do so.

The girl turned, her eyes windening in shock as she did so; she had been so lost in her own thoughts that she had not even heard the other woman approach, not that even the most aware of mortals would, of course, but she did not realise that.

"Who are you?" the girl asked, her cerulean eyes fixed on The Misstress' ametheyst ones. The Misstress did not reply, she just continued to stare at the beauty before her and probe her thoughts, her memories; the girl's name, she saw, was Aino Minako. She remembered that name from years ago; so this was the girl she had let live before, the daughter of the merchant-family.

"That, Aino Minako, is of no consequence," she replied, and planted a kiss on the girl's lips before disappearing back into the shadows and leaving the child in a state of shock.

* * *

She sat in the window of her bedroom that evening, her gaze on the sun as it set and lit the sky with hues of cardinal and ochre. The demon had appeared to her for what must have been the fifth time, and it was beginning to terrify her. She could feel her sanity slipping further away from her every time she set eyes upon the demon in question, and after their last meeting this feeling had intensified. The demon had given not her name per se, but her identity so far as anyone would know it; she was the snatcher, the one who would take children and kill them, only for them to be found brutally murdered days later; she was not human, she was indeed a demon in truth; she had to be, for the murders had been going on for decades beyond memory of even the eldars of her town, and it was impossible for any mortal being to have lived this long and killed without damnation being hadned to them.

"Milady," a servant spoke as she entred the room, startling Minako, "I'm sorry to disturb you, but your father wishes to see you immedeatly."

Minako sighed, wondering what it could be: she got off her perch on the windowsill and exited the room, making her way up another flight of stairs to her father's study, which was located at the top of the three-story house. She knocked on the hard, wooden door of the study, and upon entering found her father sitting, as usual, amongst scraps of parchment behind his desk. The air in there smelled of spices and all other such things as he dealt in: that, mixed with the strange smell often given off by parchment and ink, gave the room a rather exotic yet eerie atmosphere.

"Sit down, Minako," he told her and she sat. At first she was of the impression that he had called her there in order to once again chastise her for her lack of willing in the choosing of a husband, yet the grave expression on his face told her an entirely different matter was currnetly at hand.

He set a quill, a great black plume, down on the desk then turned to face his daughter, a look of solemness in his eyes that would usually be seen only in the eyes of a man about to sentence another to death or an even worse fate.

"Minako," he spoke, his voice as bitter as the look in his eyes. "Minako…"

"What is it, father?" she asked, perplexed by her father's behaviour; never before had she seen him act in any way like that before.

He took a deep breath and began, "Minako, some of our men saw you the other night with a woman in the forest."

Minako's eyes widnened, "That was no woman, father, that was a demon."

"I feared as much," he muttered. "A shame it is that you would consort with such beings; what have they done to you, my daughter?"

"Consort?" she narrowed her eyes. "Father, that demon is the snatcher, it told me with it's own words."

"And you would believe that which comes from the mouth of a devil?" he asked. She shook her head. "Then why claim such things if you have nothing to hide?"

"What are you saying, father?" she asked.

"They wish to try you for witchcraft," he replied. "I am giving you fair warning of this so that you may escape from here; I will not have my line ended in discrage in this way, no matter what may truly have occurred. Flee soon, child, if you value your life."

* * *

It was in the dead of night that she exited her home to creep through streets and alleys that were bathed in dark shadows even in the velvet blackness, which was lit only by the distant, cold orb of the Moon. She stole down streets and left the village itself, venturing into the woods, which seemed dark even in comparison to that that she had just left behind.

Trees snagged at her clothes and animals bayed and hooted in an almost unearthly manner as she ran through the thickest part of the forest itself, but still she continued on. She ran and ran until she could run no longer, then she found herself in the clearing by the lake where she had first met the demon that had caused all of this anguish to occur.

She fell down limp by the edge of the water and lay there for a while, attempting to catch her breath as she did so. The moonlight shimmered off the waters of the lake, making it seem like molten silver rather than water. She ran her hand across the surface of the water and sighed; she was tired, so very tired…

"So we meet again, Minako-koi," a familiar voice hissed; Minako spun around and fixed a fear-filled gaze on the figure next to her: The Misstress had returned. She had a bitter sneer on her face, she, the one who now called the young girl 'koi' so as to torment her even further.

"Wh… what are you doing here?" Minako asked, shivering not only from the cold but from fright also as she got to her feet.

"I've come for you, Minako-koi," the demon licked her lips, as a smug look appeared on her face. "And now you're mine for the taking." With that she lunged at the young girl, who screamed and tried to fight, but there is no use in trying to resist the iron claws of a vampire. The Misstress struck the now screaming girl and knocked her unconcious then she rose into the air, into the darkness and out of sight.

* * *

When Minako came to, she found herself not outside nor back at home but in a room that was completely alien to her. Shadows snaked their way along the walls, all of which were made of cold, grey stone and all of which were adorned with tapestries and paintings, beautiful things that reminded Minako of her own home. It was then that prior night's events, or so she assumed it to be for she had no idea how much time had passed, came back to her and saddend her; so she was in exile from her home… and now she was held captive in a demon's lair in only god knew where.

She paced over to the window of the room, the stone underfoot feeling horribley cold to her and making her shiver further. She stared out of the window and, which a shock, she realised where she was; the ruined castle that overlooked their village had become the demon's lair! So the folktales they told were true, and she was at the mercy of a villain who lived off the blood of young children…

* * *

Minako had lived with The Misstress in her partially ruined lair for well over a month when she finally found something there that was to tell her of the demoness' past. That day, when she was sure that The Misstress slept, as she never rose in daylight, Minako left her room and continued to search the long, twisting corridors of what was left of the castle in hope that she might find something of interest concerning The Misstress' past perhaps. She had long since resigned herself to the fact that she was never going to escape the castle; and besides, where would she go if she did?

It was then that she saw a door she had never before noticed; she opened it and found another corridor, one that sloped steeply downwards. It was shrouded in darkness; there were no windows and but few candles burned there, their light in itself somewhat akin to the shadows. The room smelled of dust and death even more potently than the rest of the castle and Minako's every nerve was screaming at her to turn back and leave this place be… and yet she found herself drawn to this darkness, this mystery, as much as she was drawn to the darkness itself.

She set one foot in front of the other and began her way down the steadily sloping path. The shadows seemed want to close in around her and, though she was much afraid, Minako shurgged this off and simply continued on her path, wondering with every step where she might be headed.

In time she found herself come to the end of the corridor; she was in a cavernous room, it's ceiling domed and stretching away into the darkness. She could not see much within the room as it, like the corridor that led to it was shrouded by the darkness. What dim light there was showed cases upon cases of manuscripts, many of which were ancient judging by their bindings and their cracked, rotting spines and yellowed pages.

Without thinking, Minako pulled one of these manuscripts from the shelf nearest to her, the set herself down of the damp floor of the cavern and began to read in the dim light. From what she could make out, the book in question was a diary, the memoirs and writings of one Ottavia Tomoe IX… a woman also more commonly known as 'The Misstress'. Upon reading this, Minako almost dropped the book in shock, but in the end she decided that she should continue reading; what was the likelyhood she should find herself within these halls again?

She continued to read and found out many things for which she had been searching since her arrival in the castle. The Misstress had been born under the name Ottavia Tomoe, she was the eldest daughter and only heir to Baron Tiberius Tomoe, the tyranic leader who had reigned over their village and all those around it well over a century beforehand. Her mother, Chikane Tomoe, had died in childbirth, leaving her to be raised mainly by her father's younger sister, who also went by the name Ottavia. Tiberius had been killed in battle when The Misstress was seven years old, her aunt dying mysteriously two years later. This had left The Misstress to run her castle, which was then empty but for a few servants, and they had had little interaction with her, if any at all. It then went on to say that, at the age of seventeen, The Misstress had fallen in love with a man, though this man was never referred to by name. Minako found that she had later borne this man's child. It was a few months after this entry that Minako found something that was particularly disturbing.

'_The maw of death was not so unlike what **he **had before told me it was upon his return. Perhaps it was a blessing to have immortality bestowed upon me, though I am of the opinion that it was moreso a curse than a blessing, for the acrid taste of **his **poison blood has refused to leave me since then. The craving for blood grows ever stronger in this new state, and I am now beginning to wonder whether **he** did this with the intenetion of bestowing unto me the darkest of curses.'_

This in itself was enough to convince Minako that The Misstress was indeed what many would call a 'vampire', but she felt compelled to read. She found the next few pages blank, but then saw one final entry, dated some five years after the one before it. This one written in a shaking hand that Minako had trouble decifering.

'_I suppose damnation is only fitting for one such as myself, a killer given to the taking of mortal life. Yet I see not why the gods would give me such penance; she did naught wrong and did nothing to my knowledge that may have angered them: after all, what would a child do to bring about their anger? Innocence is no sin, for sure, and yet… and yet now I find myself bound in a way that I never was before this night: I must take more innocent life in order to prevent the distress of her spirit, if indeed that can be done. But now I know for sure that the gods have forsaken me, for what deities would stand by a fool that, in her incontrollable lust for blood, would kill her own daughter.'_

"There is no more for you to read," a voice whispered and a hand clasped Minako's shoulder. She turned, seeing The Misstress behind her, and screamed in terror only to find those screams silenced as a hand clamped itself over her mouth.

"My dear girl, you have been foolish," The Misstress shook her head. "It is a pity really, that you know all this now. I would very much have liked to entertain myself further with you, but now I suppose that you have outlived your use. Such a pity that I must wither a flower like yourself."

It all happened to quickly for Minako to even realise what was going in, for she had soon been pulled from where she sat and was being crushed against her captor in an iron grip. The next thing she knew, cold fangs had sunk themselves into her neck and she felt a strange senseation; it was almost as if the blood were being drained from her body…

"Mama, stop it!" Minako thought she heard a child's voice. "Mama, stop it, don't kill her like you killed me!"

Minako felt herself grow ever weaker, then The Misstress drew back and she fell to the floor. She looked up and saw the demoness staring wide-eyed at a young child, who was staring straight back at her.

"Hotaru," she whispered, reaching out to touch the child's cheek, but her hand went straight through it. Minako blanched; first demons and now ghosts… so this was her daughter, the girl that she had killed.

"Please don't kill her, Mama," the young girl cried. "You've done more than enough hurt to those you've sent to me. Let this one live, Mama, let her live on as you do; she'll die if you leave her like this, I can tell, I can feel her soul crying. Please, Mama, just do this for me… you'll see me again soon enough, I promise."

With that she disappeared, leaving The Misstress standing in a petrified state.

"Hotaru…" she whispered as a ruby tear rand it's way down her ivory skin. She then turned to the ever-weakening Minako and pulled her to her feet. "Normally I would let die the mortals I may grow to love, but I'll let you live on, if only for her wishes."

Minako did not even have time to comprehend what those words meant, for she found the demons lips locked to her own as a steady stream of blood flowed down her throat. She broke away after a while, gasping for breath as she did so, the lowered her head and drank again; the blood was the only think she could think of, only the blood mattered, only the blood was of any consequence to her now, and it would be that way for eternity…

* * *

When Minako opened her eyes she found herself in a small room, which she supposed was an offshoot of the cavern she had left earlier. She felt different somehow, then realised that her heart had stopped beating and her skin had become cold as ice.

"Don't worry, you simply descended and ascended from the maw of death itself," The Misstress voice hissed to her through the darkness. "You are now as I am, damned to forever walk in endless night, one who had shunned the sun and become the wife of death and the misstress of the moonlight." She sat down next to where Minako lay, then bit into her own arm and held it out to Minako, "Drink again, child; I cannot have you become weak, not like I did when I was turned."

Minako drank once again then fixed her eyes upon the wound as it healed itself.

"We shall do that forever now; nothing can kill us except for sunlight. Perhaps it is because _he _shunned all things of light… but perhaps it is simply because of our eternal love affair with the moon and the shadows. We must remain almost eternally in shadow now, at least until those that knew you are gone; you are dead to them now, Minako, dead to mortal life."

With that realisation upon her the girl began to weep, but it was tears of blood that fell down her now poercelain features.

* * *

Many years passed for them in peace and in shadowed silence, from whence they continued their affair with moon and night and blood. They would often venture out onto their tower, the very one on which the child had been killed well over a century before, though now they would often venture into the town in guise, and it was one of these late visits that had lead to the conversation they were then having.

"So she has been re-born," The Misstress mused, her eyes clouded in thought.

"She told us she would be," the smaller blonde shrugged this off as she clasped her hand around her sire's own.

"But for what purpose?" The Misstress asked. "Why have her born into a life where she is naught but a healer accused of necromancy and witchcraft."

"Why bear her to a family where only she and her sister survive?" Minako shrugged in response. "I believe Rei is the older girl's name."

"Yes, I heard that too," The Misstress replied. "But why were they reborn at all?"

"Only time will tell," the blonde girl muttered as she leaned closer into the other woman.

Down in the village a young girl stirred and fixed her gaze upon the moonlight, completely unaware of what was soon to happen.

* * *

_**(A.N: A sequel, 'Misstress of Midnight', will hopefully be out sometime soon. Thanks for reading.)**_


End file.
